


Familia Gratam

by Nemhaine42



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Efforts were made to be as canon compliant as possible, F/M, Gen, Hogwarts Express, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Pre-Canon, Young Severus Snape, but where there is room for interpretation great artistic liberties were taken
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-09 07:24:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18912274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nemhaine42/pseuds/Nemhaine42
Summary: Little firstie Severus' introduction to Slytherin house.





	Familia Gratam

_ “See ya, Snivellous!” _

 

The cackling laughter of those boys left a slimy feeling all over Severus’ skin and he followed behind Lily, with his eyes downcast and without really looking or caring where they were going. Lily pulled him by the hand, back through the train carriages, pausing briefly at each compartment to look for space. 

 

The train had already left London behind and was steaming through green countryside. His mother hadn’t told Severus of any hard and fast rule that said he had to have found a seat, or that he couldn’t move around the train. But he certainly didn’t want to be stuck without somewhere to sit for the entire journey; even just getting to Scotland would take hours. And every compartment they passed seemed to be stuffed full of other students, packed in together and most making a fair amount of noise. 

 

Just as they were nearing the end of last carriage, and fearing they would have to turn around and lower their standards, Lily stopped abruptly at a compartment which had only one person inside. The door was closed but the blind was up.

 

“This one’s our best shot,” Lily murmured to him. She opened the door just a bit and poked her head through. The older girl inside did not look up from the thick hardback book in front of her. Lily and Severus looked at one another apprehensively, then Lily cleared her throat. 

 

“‘Scuse me? D’you mind if we sit here? Everywhere else is full,” she said, with far more confidence than Severus might have managed. 

 

The girl finally looked up at them, sparkling blue eyes peering over the top of her book. She looked at them in the manner of a distrusting cat, unblinking and inscrutable. After an awkward pause that had Severus shuffling his feet nervously, the girl gestured wordlessly to the seats opposite her that they could sit down. Lily and Severus gave her matching polite smiles and walked inside. Severus shut the door behind him and let Lily take the window seat. 

 

The girl’s stare never let up and Severus couldn’t shake the sensation of being watched. He let his eyes dart up and down, glimpsing what he could of their seat-mate. Severus thought this girl, perhaps sixteen or seventeen, was one of the prettiest people he’d ever seen. She had shining golden hair that hung to her waist, clear fair skin, and manicured fingernails. She had abandoned her shoes in favour of propping her stocking feet up on the seat. 

 

“I’m Lily.” 

 

The girl’s eyes fixed firmly on Lily’s for a moment, then switched to staring at him instead. 

 

“Severus,” he said in the softest voice possible. He had to swallow nervously as the girl watched him. 

 

“Narcissa.” 

 

She’d said it in a tone that implied her name ought to mean something to them already, and kept her steady gaze for a moment longer, then returned to her book. Severus let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. He wasn’t sure which he prefered; if their classmates would be as rude and annoying as those other boys, or as intimidating as Narcissa. 

 

Narcissa was a Slytherin, obvious from the green and silver tie tucked between the buttons of her blouse. In place of a pleated skirt like Lily’s, she had a pencil skirt which made her look even more grown-up. And she had her nose in such an enormous book that Severus thought her arms must surely ache to hold it up. The cover was a dark leather with a red ribbon hanging over it as a bookmark and the title’s gold lettering read  _ Comprehensive Conjuration & Charms.  _

 

Severus had already read his copy of  _ The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 _ cover to cover and wondered at the kind of advanced magic that must be contained in Narcissa’s book. Her eyes traveled over it at a fair pace, and the thick paper made a satisfying swish as she turned each page. Her hands, like the rest of her, were elegant and feminine. Severus couldn’t help but watch her. That was, until she looked up sharply at him; he jolted and averted his eyes. 

 

He and Lily talked softly, Severus was still intent on being housed in Slytherin no matter what anybody else said. Lily still swithered about it, not committing to one house or another and pointing out it was the hat that chose in the end. He didn’t know if the hat would take into account the fact that they were friends already. 

 

After a short while, a plump, kindly-looking witch came through the corridor pushing a trolley laden with sweets, biscuits and cakes. Severus recognised only a few as treats his mother sneaked him on his birthday. Just looking at the vast selection made his mouth water and stomach growl, but he had no money to buy any of them. Narcissa bought a great deal but ate very little, setting the majority aside. She returned yet again to her book and nibbled daintily on pink coconut ice. 

 

Lily, haltingly and unused to the wizard currency, bought a pumpkin pasty and a packet of Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum of which she offered some to Severus. She tried to share her pasty with him too, insisting he’d need to eat something more substantial, but he refused. It was Lily’s lunch and there’d be plenty to eat once they got to Hogwarts, or so his mother had promised. In any case, he’d waited longer for food. 

 

With Narcissa content to ignore them, they sat back and watched the world go by. The green, rolling fields became the Midlands and then the Dales, the familiar landscape of home. Severus felt a little foolish at having had to go all the way down to London just to come back up again, but the train never actually once stopped. And the stations they whizzed past looked old and abandoned, like Muggles had long forgotten about them. 

 

Severus began to spot weather-beaten signs, half hidden in weeds, that displayed how many miles to go until Newcastle, Berwick, Edinburgh. His bum was getting numb from sitting and he thought, just a little, about starting a conversation with Narcissa. What was it like in Slytherin house? Was it cold in the castle? Which teachers were strict?

 

He heard purposeful footsteps coming along the corridor, then the door to their compartment flew open and an older boy walked in. He had platinum blonde hair that hung about his shoulders and he was so tall that he had to duck his head to clear the doorframe. As he stood up straight, Severus noticed the shining prefect’s badge pinned to his tie. Also Slytherin. 

 

“What an absolute bore,” he complained, taking off his outer robe and flinging it up onto the rack above. “Hours of my life, that I shan’t get back, listening to Dolores talk us all to death.” 

 

“Try sharing a room with her,” Narcissa said. This boy was not met with the same cold stare as Severus and Lily, but instead he brought a smile to her face. She shifted her feet down off the seat and back into her shoes, making room for him. Narcissa reached down for the collection of sweets she’d bought from the trolley and placed them on the seat. “I saved you some treats.” 

 

“Oh, brilliant.” He leant forward and pressed a kiss to Narcissa’s lips for what seemed an inordinate amount of time. Then he selected a pack of Cauldron Cakes and set about demolishing it. Only when his mouth was full and his fingers covered in cream filling did he notice that he and Narcissa were not alone. He gave them a long look over, while chewing his cake slowly and licking his fingers. 

 

This boy pinned Lily and Severus to their seats with the same calculating stare as Narcissa, this time with steel grey eyes. He gave the impression of being far less content to simply sit back and pretend they weren’t there, and Severus wasn’t sure if that was a friendly overture or not. 

 

“I see you’ve made two little friends,” he asked Narcissa. 

 

“Lucius, this is Severus and Lily,” she explained in a somewhat condescending voice, leaning in to faux whisper. “Severus wants to be in Slytherin, Lily’s undecided.” 

 

So she  _ had _ been listening. 

“Is that so?” Lucius asked, letting a disarming smile spread across his face. 

 

“My mum was in Slytherin,” Severus defended hastily. He was not really looking to bicker with anyone else about it, since he and Lily had already exhausted their supply of uncrowded compartments. 

 

“It usually works that way, yes,” Lucius said, nodding and then turning his sharp grey eyes to Lily. “You?”

 

She shook her head, “ M y parents are Muggles.”

 

Lucius and Narcissa looked at each other knowingly, biting down on smiles, sharing some private joke. 

 

“Anyone’s guess then , really,” he said. 

 

Narcissa, flipping her lovely long hair over her shoulder, looked pointedly at Severus and said, “ I f you do go to Slytherin, you’ll undoubtedly be in with two of my cousins: Evan’s alright, but Sirius is a complete rotter.”

 

Severus had a sinking feeling that Sirius was the other boy in that first compartment, the one who’d lamented his ‘entire family was in Slytherin.’ He dearly hoped the boy got what he wanted and was sorted elsewhere, because nothing sounded worse than sharing a room with him for seven solid years.  “Yeah, pretty sure we’ve had a run-in with him already.”

 

“My commiserations,” Narcissa said, voice dripping with disdain. 

 

She reopened  _ Comprehensive Conjuration _ , pestered only slightly by Lucius who peered over, asking how far she’d gotten and what she thought about it. She turned, back to leaning against the carriage wall and once more slipping out of her shoes, placing her feet in Lucius’ lap. He placed one hand over her leg, and used the other to rifle through the confectionery stash. He retrieved a packet of gum - a different make to the one Lily had bought - and chewed it for a few seconds before blowing a bubble, which drifted away from his mouth and up to the ceiling. It was faintly pink and seemed to have a miniature sparkling fairy floating and flitting inside it. When it touched the ceiling it popped, fairy and all. 

 

The train chugged along steadily, through rugged uplands thick with fog. Raindrops started pitter-pattering onto the carriage windows, and trailing down the glass in tiny meandering streams. Eventually the landscape gave way to flatter fields but the weather only worsened, pelting the windows with water and leaving the view as little beyond the tracks but cold grey cloud. The quiet that had settled over the compartment was interrupted when Severus’ stomach gave a loud and embarrassingly long growl, and all eyes turned to him and his rapidly flushing cheeks. 

 

“I told you to eat more than a few bits of gum,” Lily said. 

 

“Hungry? You mean Cissa bought out that whole trolley so you couldn’t have any?” Lucius teased. 

 

Narcissa screwed up her face and poked him in the ribs. “I did no such thing. There was plenty.”

 

“I’ll be alright,” said Severus. “We’re nearly there, aren’t we? I’ll get dinner soon.”

 

“‘Nearly there’ meaning we’re in Scotland, now, yes. But there’s hours still to go and you’ve to be sorted first. Here.” Lucius held Severus’ gaze and reached back into the pile of sweets, then lazily chucked one over. Severus fumbled to catch what turned out to be a chocolate frog. 

 

He mumbled a ‘thanks’ to Lucius and tore open the card package. A very lively brown frog shot out of the box and landed on the windowpane, eliciting a surprised squeal from Lily. Severus grabbed it off the glass, feeling in his fingers not a wet, wriggling creature but, well, cold chocolate that began to soften as he held it. The frog tilted its head this way and that but clearly not actually seeing anything. Since it wasn’t inclined to jump again, Severus swiftly brought it to his mouth and bit its head off. 

 

Lily gasped, as if he’d eaten a real frog, and he quickly turned the now headless, motionless bar of chocolate out to her. “It’s not real, Lil. It’s chocolate, you want some?” he said, with his mouth still full. 

 

“Nah, you’re alright,” Lily said, still with a mildly disgusted look on her face. 

 

Severus shrugged and bit a leg off the frog, then turned his attention back to the box it came in. He pulled out the pentagonal card and saw a witch in a heavy, black, medieval dress, and he read aloud the caption, “‘Morgan Le Fay: Dark sorceress and enemy of Merlin, half-sister to the Muggle King Arthur.’”

 

Another card  -  _ Norvel Twonk, died saving a Muggle child from a runaway manticore _ \- whirled across the compartment and bounced off Severus’ chest, and he looked up to see Lucius already chewing on his own frog. 

 

“You can have that one, I’ve got it already,” he said absently, while breaking off one of the frog’s feet and feeding it to Narcissa. 

 

There was a third chocolate frog sitting in its box, unclaimed in the pile of sweets still lying on the seat. Lily looked at it, biting her lip, but said nothing. Neither Lucius nor Narcissa took any notice, or thought she might want it, and Severus didn’t like to just reach over and take it for her without permission. In the end, Lily gave up on the idea and went back to gazing out of the window. 

 

The train wound its way in between Glasgow and Edinburgh, heading north and giving them scant glimpses of places they had never visited. This was already the furthest away from home Severus had ever been. The rain lifted as the view became countryside again, but beyond the cozy train the world still looked cold and soggy. 

 

Narcissa relinquished her textbook just as the landscape became dramatically mountainous. She yawned, which both Lucius and Severus immediately caught from her. With a look at a fancy silver pocket watch, Lucius mumbled - to them or to himself, Severus wasn’t sure - that it wasn’t too much longer until they arrived. Narcissa rearranged herself so that she was cuddled underneath Lucius’ arm and using him as a pillow. Lucius, unbothered by being moved around, simply slouched further into the seat and propped his feet up next to Severus, then he closed his eyes for a nap. 

 

Severus turned to Lily and offered her a smile. See? Slytherins weren’t so bad, at least they were better behaved than Sirius and the boy bound for Gryffindor. He couldn’t help but keep looking at them, resting their heads together and snoozing. Lucius was just as pretty as his girlfriend, with high cheekbones, a long straight nose and soft hair. Severus subconsciously itched at his own, wishing he’d had something better than hand soap to wash it with and feeling all the more uncomfortable for having sat for hours in his warm robes. 

 

The sky blazed pink and orange as the sun slipped away and the train slowed to wind its way between mountains and glens. Towns became smaller and smaller as they passed by, and farther in between. It was well after dark when the train finally heaved itself into Hogsmeade station. Severus could see little beyond the compartment windows and he wondered how much further there was until they reached the castle itself. 

 

Just moments before, Severus had been yawning and rubbing his eyes. But now, faced with their imminent arrival at Hogwarts, he felt wide awake. Lucius and Narcissa, on the other hand, were more used to the rigmarole and lazily stood and began picking up their things. 

 

Shrugging his outer robe back on, Lucius muttered, “I’m so hungry I could eat a whole dragon. And still have room for pudding.”

 

“How is that any different than normal?” Narcissa teased. 

 

Severus and Lily looked anxiously out the window, and into the corridor at all the other students filling out onto the platform. Lucius then seemed to remember they were there.

 

“Oh, you’re to go with Hagrid. He’ll be waiting outside for you. You, er, can’t miss him,” he explained, with a smirk. He winked at Severus. “I’ll see you at the sorting, then.”

 

With that he held the door open for Narcissa and then followed her out and off of the train. Severus and Lily hurried after, hopping out onto the noisy, crowded platform in the fresh night air. There was an enormous man at one end of the platform, hollering for first years to come and follow him. They made their way over, weaving in between all the older, taller students, and joined the back of a queue, but Severus couldn’t help but look back over his shoulder. 

 

Lucius, at least half a head taller than everyone else but Hagrid, had jogged over to a group of boys who must be his classmates and practically crashed into them. They hugged and jostled, ruffling their hair and slapping each other on the back. Their group, like the entire crowd of students on the platform, contained a variety of accents, sometimes thick, incomprehensible and difficult for Severus to place. One boy in particular already sported dark scruff about his chin even after just a day’s travel. Narcissa chivvied them to get a move on, complaining that she was cold and attempting to burrow herself back underneath Lucius’s arm. Severus watched as the teenagers walked down the stairs and off the platform, heading off into the dark somewhere unseen. 

 

He felt Lily nudging him, calling him to hurry up. When he turned back he found himself at risk of being left behind by the troupe of first years heading in the opposite direction. He rushed to catch up, following the light Hagrid held up, away from the station and down to the lake’s edge.

 

***

 

If Severus had been paying attention, he’d have been nervous. There were scores of eyes on him and the rest of the first years as they trotted along behind Professor McGonagall like ducklings, and yet Severus was looking up. He’d heard rhapsodies about the Great Hall ceiling, how it changed and appeared to open the whole room to the sky. Tonight the clouds were being whipped along by the building wind, parting in places to reveal glimmering stars, before floating off between the timber buttresses of the roof. 

 

No sky as beautiful was to be seen in Cokeworth, so Severus walked straight into the back of someone as the group stopped. 

 

“Watch it!” said the short, plump boy in front of him. 

 

All the first years were cowed into silence at a single tut from McGonagall. In front of her was an old stool with an even older hat on top. It was wrinkled and ripped, care-worn and dirty: the sorting hat. Severus remembered his mother telling him not to be afraid of it but not to try to deceive it or conceal his thoughts from it either, it would know and it took everything into account. To the unobservant it appeared to be just a normal, albeit tatty, harmless hat - until the rips and tears became features of an indistinct face. The hat sang a little song about itself and the four houses but Severus knew that already - his mum had told him - and he drifted a bit. He caught something about choices and unknowable repercussions but mostly he was peering at the carved stone knights in the corners of the hall, and the intricate panelling on the walls, the stonework, and that spellbinding ceiling. 

 

When the hat was finished, the room burst into applause which jolted Severus back to attention. McGonagall stepped forward and unrolled a scroll of parchment. She cleared her throat and called out the first name on the list: “Avery, Tristan!” 

 

A boy with dull blonde hair anxiously stepped up and sat on the stool, wincing as the hat was placed over his head. It considered the student beneath for just a few seconds before shouting, “ _ Slytherin _ !”

 

A roar of applause and thumping of the table came from the far left side of the room, and Avery duly hopped down and scurried over to sit. Severus could see Lucius’ long hair near the front of the table. 

 

Another boy was sent to Hufflepuff and a girl to Slytherin as well, who waved cheerfully to an older sister further up the table. There were several dozen first years to sort and Severus groaned inwardly at how far down the list his name must be and he only felt sorry for anyone unfortunate enough to have a surname beginning with Z. 

 

“Black, Sirius!” McGonagall called. 

 

One of the boys who’d annoyed and insulted him on the train stepped up to the stool with a face of grim determination. Narcissa’s cousin, he remembered. Severus supposed there was a slight resemblance, something in the nose or the chin, but Sirius was dark-haired where Narcissa was fair. The hat was placed on his head but, instead of the few moments’ deliberation the others had needed, the hat mulled it over for a bit longer and Severus privately wondered if Sirius was simply arguing the hat into submission. 

 

A trickle of whispers came from the assembled students and one of the teachers pointedly looked at a pocket watch. The hat scrunched its face up and shouted, “ _ Gryffindor _ !”

 

Rather than the cheering and clapping the other students had received, this sorting was met with a huge collective gasp and the immediate twittering of gossip at all tables. Professor Dumbledore gave a call to calm down and McGonagall swatted at Sirius to get off the stool and join his house. He looked elated and entirely smug. At least Severus wouldn’t have to share a room with him, unless of course he too was sorted into Gryffindor. He hoped not, anywhere but Gryffindor now. 

 

There was still some subtle whispering coming from the Slytherin table but McGonagall took no notice of them and continued down the list. “Bristow, Florence!”

 

She was sent to Ravenclaw, several girls went to Slytherin, and a boy and a girl to Hufflepuff, and then McGonagall called, “Evans, Lily!”

 

Severus and Lily shared a nervous glance as she walked forward, taking deep calming breaths. She sat upon the stool, which looked as though it might collapse under even a feather’s weight, and looked up uncertainly as the hat was lowered onto her head. Severus didn’t even have time to hope for anything as the hat immediately announced, “ _ Gryffindor _ !”

 

Severus let out a little groan. Off Lily went, cheerfully, practically skipping down to the Gryffindor table, and sat next to sodding Sirius, of all people. At least once she realised who she was sitting with, she turned away to give him the cold shoulder.  But now Severus was torn; he wanted to go to Slytherin still but his one friend had been sorted into the very anathema of that house. Would he be expected to hate Lily, to ignore her? He couldn’t do it, he wouldn’t. But, of course, it wasn’t a done deal. The hat might send him to Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff yet. 

 

Severus felt like he waited an age for his name to be called. He became more and more anxious as McGonagall made her way down the list. The short boy he’d walked into was sorted into Gryffindor, and shortly after so was James Potter, doubling Severus’ conviction of ‘anywhere but Gryffindor.’ 

 

Rosier, Evan was sent to Slytherin - Narcissa’s other cousin, who looked a bit more like her in the eyes and the hair. He seemed to know quite a few people in the upper years besides Narcissa. Severus knew none of the others, certainly not the ones going to Slytherin, and they looked no more keen on knowing him.

 

Rowle, Mathilda was also sent to Slytherin and Shacklebolt, Kingsley went to Ravenclaw, and then all of a sudden: 

 

“Snape, Severus!”

 

He jumped back to attention and found McGonagall peering down at him over the the rim of her spectacles. 

 

His heart hammered in his chest as he stepped up and sat on the stool. All at once he could see everyone’s faces. Lily was looking at him, as was Lucius from the other side of the hall. Sirius was making a face at him. He squeezed his eyes shut just as he was enveloped in the hat’s shadow. All other noise was shuttered out, except a knowing voice that came not from the hat but inside his own head. 

 

_ Well, what have we here, hmm, oh yes, what a mind, what a mind… Hmm, the things you could achieve with this mind, if you were put in the right place.  _

 

Severus felt frozen, stuck, as the hat simply rifled through his brain, seeing things Severus barely even knew were there. 

 

‘Anywhere but Gryffindor,’ he thought repeatedly. The hat had listened to Sirius Black, it had to listen to him too, didn’t it? 

 

_ Anywhere but Gryffindor, eh? I suppose, Ravenclaw would suit you well, my boy, with a mind like this one.... _

 

‘Ravenclaw?’ It wouldn’t be his first choice. But if the hat thought so…

 

_ Not so keen? Very well, what else? Plenty of loyalty, no doubt about that. But perhaps…  _

 

‘I want to go to Slytherin.’ Severus thought, feeling himself frowning. 

 

_ Slytherin? Family tradition, is it? Well, those don’t count for too much these days, do they?  _ The hat laughed, it seemed to be enjoying stringing him along.  _ There’s certainly a good helping of ambition. And cunning! Ho, what cunning a mind like yours could wield, boy. Better go for… _

 

“Slytherin!” the hat called aloud. 

 

Severus couldn’t help but smile with relief. He jumped down from the stool and hurried over to the Slytherin table, where his new housemates were cheering and banging on the table. There was only one space left on one side, next to the Rosier boy. But Severus bypassed it and went up the other bench where he could sit right next to Lucius, who patted him on the back. Further up the table he could see Narcissa, having a tense conversation with one of the other boys from the platform. 

 

“Knew you’d be one of us,” Lucius said, leaning in closely. “Welcome to the snake pit.” 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> as always thank you to my wonderful beta-boo, readbycandlelight <3


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